Garment decoration and personalization is a large, well established industry. Many traditional means for decorating and personalizing various types of garments have existed independently for quite some time.
Letters are a classical object of decoration found on school "letter jackets". The letter decoration is manufactured by weaving colored yarn (chenille) upon a base of felt in the solid area of the letter. The letter shape is then cut from the base fabric. This decoration is then sewn onto the garment. The resulting effect is the appearance of a colored letter upon the garment with an outline of felt around the letter.
Numbers are a common decoration on athletic uniforms, such as baseball and football jerseys. Shapes of school mascots or school symbols are also commonly found on jackets and jerseys.
Another common modern object of decoration involves placing images upon a garment, such as a tee shirt. Silk-screening is a popular manufacturing process used to create this type of decoration.
Heat sealing is another popular process used to create garment image decorations.
Machinery is now available which can produce chenille directly on a garment. These machines have been used to print manufacturers' names on garments.